Pope Francis has sparked a heated debate after slamming people who choose not to have kids and calling them selfish.
As the Catholic Church leader insisted, it is a form of selfishness when individuals prioritize having pets over having more children.
“Today… we see a form of selfishness. We see that some people do not want to have a child,” the Pope said as he addressed his Vatican audience.
“Sometimes they have one, and that’s it, but they have dogs and cats that take the place of children. This may make people laugh but it is a reality.”
The head of Catholics went on to claim that the practice presents “a denial of fatherhood and motherhood and diminishes us, takes away our humanity.”
During his controversial speech, the Pope also encouraged couples who struggle with having children of their own to open up to and consider adoption “so that the dream of so many children who need a family, and of so many spouses who wish to give themselves in love, can come true.”
“This kind of choice is among the highest forms of love, and of fatherhood and motherhood. How many children in the world are waiting for someone to take care of them!” he added.
While Pope Francis admitted that “having a child is always a risk,” he insisted that “denying paternity” by choosing not to become a parent is even riskier.
As it appears, the Pope didn’t take into account the fact that his predecessor, Benedict XVI, adored and owned two cats while having no children himself.
This isn’t the first time Francis openly expressed his opinion about people who refuse to have children. Back in 2014, he said having pets over children is “another phenomenon of cultural degradation.”
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